Relationship Between Parenting And Student Academic Achievement Essay

Many parents have multiple children, while working a nine to five job, attending family activities and meetings, and staying on top of bills and home duties. Family life can get hectic and parents may not take the time to realize their importance in their children’s academics. Some parents may be too busy, and others may simply not care, but their involvement in their children’s life is essential. Whether parents or children realize it, involvement of parents in children’s lives positively affects their child’s academic success at all grade levels, including elementary, high school, and even college.

Over the past years, most studies on the educational success of a child have focused on the factors that are within the control of the child. They are factors that are directly caused by the child himself such as the level of motivation, discipline level, hard work and the company he keeps. Only a few researchers have focused on the role parents play in the determination of the success that children have in academics. Despite their role being obscure in the scholarly work, it is evident that the involvement of parents in a child’s education plays a significant in determining whether a child will succeed or not. While most scholars argue that a child’s education success is dependent on the level of hard work he or she puts in class, recent studies by different scholars point that a parent’s involvement in school plays a significant part in the education success of their children.

During early childhood development a key factor that influences our aspects of behavior is the type of parenting styles our parents used. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of parenting styles and college students academic achievement. Also to find out if parenting style would a valid predictor of children’s success. Thus, three types of parenting styles were measured those being authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. These parenting styles were identified by using four dimension of parenting as identified by the college students, disciplinary strategies, warmth and nurturance, communication styles, and expectation of maturity and control. Academic success was measure using grade point average (GPA) of the college students. Analysis revealed that only authoritative parenting style had a correlation with students and high GPA. (Huey, Sayler, and Rinn, 2013)

Collective research focusing on family-school partnerships provide an extensive examination of parent involvement. Smith et al., (2011) referred to parent involvement as school, family, and community partnerships for the purpose of shared expectations, responsibilities, interests, and correlating influences of family, school, and community. Epstein’s (2008) framework of parent involvement approached parent involvement typologies from an institutional perspective; the framework for this literature review was conducted with a parental perspective that may positively affect academic achievement among students in 6th – 12th grades attending high poverty, rural schools. An explanation of Epstein’s six categories of parent involvement follows:

Noel, A., Stark, P., Redford, J. (2013). Parent and Family Involvement in Education, From the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 (NCES 2013-028), National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.

An obstacle I have witnessed in my school is the lack of parental involvement. Throughout this year, I believe the parents' investment in their children education has been disheartening. I can say in my own classroom, nearly one-third of student’s parents have no idea how they are doing in school academically. About one-sixth of student’s parents don’t sign daily agendas or notes that are sent home. Only about one-fifth of parents consistently attend school programs. My biggest concern is that too many parents are disengaged. Parent involvement can indeed make a difference in a child’s education. Students would perform better academically and behaviorally if their

As discussed above, the extensive research conducted has demonstrated that parental involvement has positive effects on student achievement (Allen, 2005; Epstein et al., 2002; Mapp & Henderson, 2002). A large portion of the research conducted has been influenced by Dr. Joyce Epstein. Dr. Epstein is the director of the Center for School, Family, and Community

Only two types of parent involvement had significant effects on academic achievement in the main

The review of the literature, for this research proposal, found that minimal parent engagement in the educational process has adverse effects on academic achievement, especially for those students attending a high poverty, rural school. Though, limited research has been conducted from the secondary education perspective using the poverty theory as a guiding principle. The proposed research of Examination of

Parental involvement is vital in creating an environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. Parents are the primary caregivers and crucial assets in a child’s academic life. The parent- child relationship is very important because children tend to view their parents as being the most important role models in their lives. It is important to establish parent teacher collaboration because it allows the parent and teacher to connect in the best interest of the child. Based on the Longitudinal studies which focus on changes in behavior over time the findings of whether family involvement have a lasting impact on children’s academic achievements showed that the children in the study was more motivated, and academically did well across all grades. “The Longitudinal studies indicated that early family has potential to influence children’s academic achievement across grades.” ( Coleman 2013, p. 52). The first parent teacher conference of the school year my daughter received 2’s in english and math on her report card as well as 3’s in gym and music. When I sat down to talk to the teacher I was not so happy about her grades on her report card, so I asked the teacher what can I do to help her. As a parent you have to take a proactive measure in ensuring that

Parent involvement is necessary for students to succeed. Some cultures tend to view teachers as the experts and leave educational decisions to them. This can give the false impression that parents do not care about education. In American culture, parents take a more active role in their child’s education. They might volunteer in classrooms and help out when needed.

There are numerous explanations on why families should be involved in their children’s education and the main reason is that by being involved in their child’s education they will help their child flourish in class. A report by Southwestern Educational Development Laboratory in 2002 reported that “When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more” (National Education Association, n.d. para. 3). If parents are not involve in their children education then it is likely that their child will feel that school does not matter as their parents do not ask them what they did during the school day.

The authors have used an incredible amount of data and have displayed these all very clearly. However, a limitation to their work is that they have not explained their data enough, and sometimes have left the reader wondering if the findings of the negative outcomes really identify the effects of parental involvement? Nevertheless Robinson & Harris conclude by stating that parental involvement is beneficial if there is correct ‘stage setting’. Parents should create an environment around their children that influences them to achieving academic success. The Authors found “children’s parents who did not necessarily, physically help them at school or at home, rather had high expectations of their children’s which lead to children having no choice but to try and do well” (p.208). Even though Robinson and Harris argue that an increase in parental involvement will not improve educational inequalities, they have highlighted that parents having high expectation for their children which can lead to children doing well this is something which the reader can take with them as it gives a solution that does not require much involvement at all but still affect a child’s ability to academically

Substantial evidence exists to show that children whose parents are involved in their schooling have significantly increased their academic achievement and cognitive development. The parent-child relationship is improved and parents more frequently participate in the child’s activities.

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.